Summer Road Trip - Part 2

The drive from Crater Lake to Portland wasn't bad at all. We got to my brother's house in time for dinner with the family. It had been a whole year since we had seen my nephew Clark. He'd gone from a long, skinny infant to a chubby, rough and tumble toddler that runs from room to room! The kids had so much fun with their cousin. Friday (our first full day in Portland) we rode the MAX (Portland's railway system) into downtown and ate a fantastic burrito and torta at a Mexican food cart, hopped on a streetcar south to Alli's work (OHSU), and then got a chance to ride the aerial tram up from the waterfront to the hospital. That is one neat ride! We actually got to do it twice since Alli works there and got us free tickets. You can see all of the waterfront (along the Willamette River) and over downtown Portland. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera. In the evening we went to a nearby park with a water-play area (pretty common in the Portland area) and let the kids run around in the water. Clark LOVES the water! He ran around, sticking his face, head, bum, whatever into the shooting fountains! Here's some pics of the evening. Saturday we ate our we through the Beaverton Farmers' Market...literally! We started the morning at Fetzer's German sausages, then made it over to Zest Crepes, for a yummy crepe filled with fresh cream and topped with fresh raspberries and orange zest! The kids had fun dancing to the music and getting balloons. We wandered through booths of milk, butter, baked goods (the marionberry pie was fabulous), blueberries, cherries, raspberries, chard, onions, beets, local cranberry juice, home-made tamales, local honey, jam, and so much more! Sunday we decided to take a day-trip to Cannon Beach, a short 90 minute drive from Portland. We stopped, of course, at Camp 18 for their gigantic cinnamon rolls. We spent a couple hours on the sand, playing, digging, and searching for sea-life in the tidepools around Haystack Rock. Clark not only loved to play in the sand... he wanted to eat the sand! And lots of it! After cleaning up the kids and putting on dry clothes, we wandered through the downtown area and stopped in at Bill's Tavern for fish and chips and some beer sampling (Blackberry Beauty was the fave). Three of the four kiddos slept on the ride home (can you guess which one stayed awake?), tired from a very fun day!